Building Bridges
by hoarfrosted
Summary: For his sixteenth birthday, Logan is given the gifts of a whimsical tale, a new friend and something more.


**Title:** Building Bridges

**Characters/Pairings:** Logan/James

**Spoilers:** None.

**Rating:** T-ish

**Warnings:** Small one for language.

**Word Count:** 4k+

**Summary:** For his sixteenth birthday, Logan is given the gifts of a whimsical tale, a new friend and something more.

**Author Note:** Okay, so this story is really, _really_ rushed since I only had like, a three day period to write it in and only one of those days was actually spent writing, and it's probably the fluffiest things I've ever written, but I hope you all enjoy it anyway. The story is set in Edina, Minnesota and it's an AU, so no Big Time Rush. Logan is fifteen, James is sixteen.

More importantly, this story is a gift for **joyousbrokenthing**, who wanted the glorious gift of Jagan canon, or the consolation prize of fic. I'm still working on making Jagan canon, but accept this for now, 'kay? Happy birthday!

**Disclaimer:** I don't claim jack-diddly.

* * *

"Logan! You up there, dude?"

On the second level of the Mitchell household and in his bedroom, Logan Mitchell ignored the call, knowing exactly who was summoning him and what he was being summoned for. He sighed into his copy of _The Glass Menagerie_.

Next weekend was Logan's sixteenth birthday, which meant that, like every year, his parents were fully prepared to pull out all the stops for his special day. Months before, they did nothing but drill into Logan's head how willing they were to make his party as big as his older brother's had been earlier in the year – theme park, science exhibit, a hockey game, camping, whatever he wanted. They'd even offered to let him have his own party _un_supervised. It was insane!

The only reason they were so eager to blow up his birthday every year was because, ever since he'd had the option, Logan requested to have no parties at all, and not like other guys who _said_ they didn't want anyone to make a big fuss over their birthdays but secretly loved the attention. Logan _really_ hated parties, so much so that when his parents had attempted throwing him a huge surprise party five years prior, he'd spent the entire night unhappy – not by choice, but he wasn't good at hiding his disdain.

In an effort to normalize him – or at least, that's what Logan considered their effort – his parents recruited his three best friends, Carlos, Kendall and James, to _subtly_ persuade Logan into having a party.

So far, two of them had tried and failed.

A week before, Carlos had ambushed him during their school lunch hour with dozen of pictures of he and his family when they'd visited Disneyland years ago, showing Logan all the huge smiles he and his siblings sported while they posed with cartoon characters and rode roller coasters and stuffed their faces full of cotton candy. Logan had deflected Carlos' enthusiasm by informing him that cartoons were for little kids and that cotton candy and roller coasters contributed to upset stomachs, a condition Logan suffered from frequently. Carlos had sulked for the rest of the hour, easily defeated.

Kendall had been a tougher opponent to beat. For days, Kendall had poked and prodded at Logan after school at hockey practice, skating around Logan and reminding him of how well the Minnesota Wilds were doing their current season and how Logan would be the "most bestest friend of all eternity" if he chose the hockey game option and how he would never ask Logan for anything ever again – most certainly a lie. Once Logan reminded Kendall repeatedly of the high cost of tickets for a hockey game five states west where the Wilds were currently playing, Kendall had eventually given up as well.

"Logan?"

That only left James up to the task of swaying him, which was, honestly, a little strange to Logan. In fact, his feeble relationship with James was strange altogether.

Sure, he liked James most of the time and there was never a problem between the two of them when they hung out with Kendall and Carlos, but Logan wasn't sure if he could actually consider James a _friend_. James wasn't someone he could be around without the company of Kendall or Carlos; whenever they were left alone, uncomfortable silence confined them. Logan could try to start a conversation up but, whether due to his own clumsy words around pretty people or James' unwillingness to speak, James always remained silent, hazel eyes shining with some weird, indiscernible emotion when he stared or nodded absentmindedly.

Logan wasn't good with emotions.

He might not have considered it a big deal if James was someone he'd recently met, but he'd…_known_ James for years and the most James had ever said to him in private was a vague question about astrology. The change in James' demeanor from public to private left Logan winded and a little frustrated at times, but he never called it to attention for fear of ruining the group dynamic. If James wanted to be weird and distant, that was his prerogative.

But Logan was almost positive that James didn't really like him, which made James presence in his home _without_ Kendall or Carlos, again, strange. Was he even visiting of his own volition or had Kendall put him up to it? Or maybe James was eager to have an unsupervised party, as seemed to be his nature. Logan considered simply not answering the call and hoping James would leave eventually, until he heard the sound of sneakered feet climb the stairs two at a time.

"You know you were suppose to take your shoes off at the front door," were the first words out of Logan's mouth when his bedroom door flew open, not bothering to look up from his book or move from his cross-legged position on his bed.

There was a bit of shuffling against the carpet as James removed his shoes, "Oh, well, your mom didn't say anything, so it's cool."

Logan's gaze rose from his assigned text, sure that he wouldn't get any reading done until his visitor was gone. James stood there in his doorway, same unknown quality in his eyes as every other time they were alone, same discomfiture in his rigid posture, only now with one hand held behind his back troublingly. Logan frowned, unwilling to let James make him feel uncomfortable in his own home. "What're you doing here, James?"

James gave a wounded huff, "Geez, is that any way to greet your best pal?"

Logan's frown only deepened in response. "What're you doing here, James?" he repeated. If he was expected to finish his reading and the attached book report, he didn't have time to play any games.

James matched his frown briefly before conceding, face softening and morphing into something more uncertain and vulnerable. It didn't quell Logan's unease. "Fine, fine. I just – uh, I'm here to see you."

It took all of Logan's energy to not give James a scathingly sarcastic reply – _obviously_ James was here to see him. Logan wanted to be curt and quick to make James leave, not a dick. "I figured that out. _Why_ are you here to see me?"

"Well…uh…," James edged closer to the bed, eyes roaming over anatomical posters and award-winning science fair projects as if he'd never been in Logan's room before. His nervousness was uncharacteristic and, frankly, frightening. As Logan had observed from the sidelines in a completely non-creepy way, James didn't do nervousness, and he hadn't ever since he'd grown from his awkward pubertal phase and into his unreal attractiveness. In fact, the only time James _wasn't_ unflappably confident was when he knew he was in trouble.

"I'm not having a party, if that's what you're here for," Logan stated, deciding to cut the meeting short.

But James wasn't deterred by the declination. If anything, he appeared surprise by the mention of a party. "What? Oh, I don't care about that. I…I wanted to give you my birthday present – I mean,my birthday present to _you_." He shrugged, "Whatever, you get what I mean."

Logan perked up at that, shutting his book and setting it aside on his bed. "Really?"

When James nodded and smiled, the unmistakable weight of guilt dropped into Logan's stomach – the whole time, James just wanted to give him a gift, and to show his gratitude he'd given nothing but a frosty attitude and a sour face. To be fair, James wasn't usually nervous about giving his gifts, especially since he always bought expensive electronic gifts that were guaranteed to be enjoyed. Also, why couldn't James wait until his _actual_ birthday to present it like normal people did?

"Why are you giving me a present today? You know my birthday's not until next weekend, right?"

James glared and stood a little taller, "Of course I know that! I'm not that dumb…most of the time."

"I didn't mean it that way," Logan gave him an apologetic smile. "But it _is_ a little weird that you're giving it so early."

"Is not," James shook his head. "This is a good present…well, _I _think it is, so it has to be delivered in private."

"You _always_ give good presents."

"Yeah, but this one's better than all the others!"

"You bought me an iPod Touch last year," Logan argued, seriously skeptical that James could continue to top himself year after year.

James furrowed his brow, obviously having forgotten his own purchases. "I did?" he questioned himself, then shook his head. "Nope, doesn't matter. This one's still better."

"Well, what is it then?" Logan leaned forward in his seat, curiosity fully peaked at the mystery surrounding the potentially amazing gift.

Some of James' nerve must have left him, because he stood stiff with a solid minute of fidgeting before he finally pulled his hand from behind his back, fingers tightly gripping an ordinary notebook. "Happy birthday!" No flashy electronic device, no two-hundred dollar gift card, just a red notebook, maybe a little thinner than average; multiple pages looked to be torn from it.

Logan didn't know whether he was surprised or disappointed or a combination of both, but his smile was very clearly false; he still didn't have a great handle on masking his emotions. "Cool, a notebook…thanks."

Right when he reached out to grab the notebook, James yanked it out of his grasp, nearly causing Logan to tumble from his bed. "No, the notebook's not the gift. I, uh, I wrote you something, since I know you like reading and boring stuff like that."

"You…wrote me something?" Logan blinked unbelievingly.

James nodded, beaming with tentative pride. "Yeah. It's like a story, but it's super short."

"So it's a short story?"

"Yeah, that's it! But I haven't finished it yet, and I kinda need your help with the ending. You'll help me out, _right?_" James gave him the hopeful, wide-eyed expression he'd adopted from Kendall's little sister, Katie.

It was unnecessary; Logan was already on-board, eager to read James' story. Never before had one of his friends written something for him. "Yeah, sure, dude. Can I read it?"

"_No!"_ James crushed the notebook against his chest at a startling speed. "I think you should let me read it to you."

Logan cocked an inquisitive eyebrow, "I can read it fine by myself, James. Isn't it _my_ gift?"

"Can you promise not to complain if there're too many mistakes?" James leveled him with a serious gaze, as if he was searching for lies.

Silence was the only answer for a moment while Logan mulled it over. Grammatical errors _did_ bug him a lot and his friends had grown accustomed to his facial tics when he proofread their papers. He accepted, not wanting to hurt James' feelings. "All right, you can read it to me if you want."

James grinned and hopped onto the bed, ignoring the warning glare Logan shot him. He sat with his legs underneath him opposite Logan and opened his notebook, making sure Logan couldn't see the pages as he flipped through them. "Okay, you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Logan replied, giving his friend an encouraging smile.

Clearing his throat dramatically, James began, "Once upon a time in the magical land of Megasota, there was a powerful ruler by the name of Prince Chames Liamond."

"'Chames Liamond'?" Logan interrupted with an incredulous look.

James frowned at the interruption. "Yes, Prince Chames Liamond."

"That's not a real name."

"It's _my_ story, I can name the characters whatever I want!" James whined impatiently. Logan held up his hands in surrender and urged James to continue, positive that he was going to hear a fantastical story about James. "Right, so, Chames Liamond was the crowned prince of Megasota. Not only was he the most powerful man in the kingdom, but he was also the most handsome, the most graceful, _and_ he had the best hair. No one in the kingdom dared to compare with him, for everyone knew that he was an _unworldly_ beauty!"

Logan had to bite his lip hard to keep from asking how long _Chames'_ vainglorious description would run on.

"But, as glorious and beneficial as Prince Chames' beauty was to him, it also came with a _dark_ and _terrible_ curse!" When James wiggled his fingers ominously in the air, Logan didn't hold back his amused snort. "It had the power to charm anyone the prince wanted, anyone _except_ the one that the prince wanted to charm the most, the one that the prince was surely falling for. This person was one of the prince's closest and most important friends."

Surprised that James would reveal something so personal, Logan scooted closer to him, strangely interested in who James was falling for.

"Also, the friend was a genius wizard and could levitate and shoot _fireballs_," James punched the air for emphasis, "out of a wand with brain power, and that was pretty awesome."

Then again, the whole story was probably just James' imagination.

"For years, Prince Chames sat on his throne and admired his wizard friend. The wizard spoke with in some weird foreign tongue, so Chames couldn't really understand the wizard most of the time, but the prince liked to listen to the wizard speak anyway, and the wizard had a magical mouth that was great to watch. The prince was pretty sure the magical mouth was how the wizard made spells work all the time. Unfortunately, because of the awful, terrible curse, the wizard was blind to Chames' beauty, so there was no chance for the wizard to fall for him in return. Not only did they speak two different languages, but the wizard was quiet and kind of mean and liked to be locked in the tallest tower of the Chames' castle, reading books and casting spells and other wizard things."

He would deny it to anyone who asked, but Logan was interested in how James' story would play out, and he was dying to know who the wizard was. What close female friends did James have? Logan hoped it wasn't Jo. That would be a _huge_ problem with Kendall. Camille was pretty smart and probably dressed up as a wizard in her spare time, but she _definitely_ wasn't silent. Lucy was quiet and mean sometimes, but she preferred burning books to reading them. Actually, he didn't want it to be any of them.

Logan had to force himself to listen and stop investigating for the moment, lest he miss an important hint – not that he had to worry about appearance when James was so invested in his storytelling. James being so focused on anything was a marvel.

"One dark and stormy night while Prince Chames was out slaying the great dragon, Semestero Projecto, his wizard friend was kidnapped and taken to a far away castle where evil magic made everyone forget things eventually, which meant that the wizard would forget all about the prince. Prince Chames' couldn't let that happen! The prince immediately set out to rescue the wizard with the magical fire sword the wizard had given him – the prince was dashing and bad-ass like that – and he fought through all sorts of dangerous dangers like giant desert spiders, killer clowns and worst of all, _thinking_. Days later, Prince Chames almost made it to the castle, it was in his sights and everything, but surrounding the castle was a huge pit full of monsters and fire, and it was called The _Friend _Zone."

Logan couldn't stop himself; the moment he heard the name of the monster-filled chasm, he burst out into laughter, falling back onto his bed and holding his stomach.

"Hey, why are you laughing? He's in serious danger!" James yelled indignantly, glaring ineffectually at Logan.

Not wanting to make James _too_ angry, Logan sat up and smirked. "'The Friend Zone'? That's the name of your dangerous, fiery pit? That sounds like the title of a cartoon for five year olds."

"Trust me, it's the worst place _ever_," James assured, flipping a page in his notebook. "Now, are you done being rude so I can finish?" Logan snickered a little, but quieted quickly after seeing the stern expression on James' face.

"_Anyway_, the prince knew he had to save his wizard friend at any cost, but if he tried going through The _Friend_ Zone, he would never get to see the wizard ever again. The only possible way of getting to the castle was by a…a bridge," James faltered noticeably, taking in a shuddering breath. Logan tilted his head in confusion. "The bridge – uh, it was a magical bridge and it could only be created if both the prince and the wizard wanted it to be, but the prince couldn't just tell the wizard because they spoke two different languages, plus the wizard was too far away to hear the prince yell. The only way the prince could communicate with the wizard was to use the magical fire sword to blast tons of weird symbols into the sky that the wizard could understand. Once that part was done, Prince Chames could only wait and hope that the wizard hadn't forgotten him and would want to be saved."

James sighed heavily and closed the notebook, staring down at it pensively. "That's as far as I got."

"What? No way, how does it end? Does the prince ever get to the wizard? Why can't the wizard fly over The _Friend_ Zone?" Logan asked eagerly, using the same grave quality in his words as James did.

"Quit using logic to poke holes in my plot!" James grumped, gaze firmly on his notebook. Then, he said in a soft voice, "I told you earlier that I needed your help with the ending."

Though Logan didn't understand how he could, he was completely willing to help. He hadn't been given any further clues as to the identity of the wizard friend – he didn't even know the wizard's gender! James had done surprisingly well at keeping that part secret. "All right, I'll help you out then. What do you need me to do?"

"I…" James started thinly. In some weird some surge of energy, his eyes flew up to Logan's, shining with wavering confidence and the emotion that Logan could never place. He swallowed thickly before stating, "I need you to decide whether you want to create that bridge with me or not."

For a moment, Logan could only stare back at James, silently mouthing what James had said to him and trying to make sense of it in his head, before his eyes widened comically. The description of the wizard – a silent genius with an affinity for books and an occasionally sour attitude that Chames had been friends with for years and who could fly…well, the flying part still didn't make sense, but –

Logan didn't want to get his – fears or hopes, he couldn't decide – up, so carefully he asked, "James, what's the wizard friend's name?"

James flushed and shifted in his seat uncomfortably, "I named him Slogan Glitchell the Wizard."

If the way James stared at him wasn't enough – with apprehension and anticipation and _something_ all swirled into a brilliant hazel – the name for the wizard confirmed his thoughts. James had _feelings_ for him and had for years? Logan would've dismissed the idea immediately had he not sat and listened through a lengthy anecdote describing their relationship through James' eyes. And the silence that encompassed them whenever they were alone wasn't there because James didn't like him, but because he liked to watch Logan's mouth move…or because James couldn't understand his language.

"I don't speak a different language," Logan said, unsure what James had meant to imply.

James shrugged a shoulder, dropping the charade easily. "You use big words and talk about junk I don't get, so you basically do – not that it's a bad thing!" James rushed to correct, holding his hands out in preventative placation. "I learn things from you sometimes, even when I don't want to, and I like watching you talk. Not in a creepy way."

It was kind of creepy, but overwhelmingly flattering, so Logan didn't comment on it. Besides, James was still expecting an answer, and Logan didn't really have one to give him. His first instinct was to decline; he was relatively certain that he didn't share James' feelings and though he was afraid of hurting James, he knew that lying to him would only make the situation worse.

But that was where the "relatively" re-emerged, because while Logan didn't want to say yes, he also didn't want to say _no_. Having the choice sprung on him suddenly made thoughts of what it would be like to be with James flash in mind – holding hands with James, their school knowing that they were an item, kissing James, going out with James, _kissing _James. His imagination ran through the image so vividly that he couldn't stop the heat from rushing to his cheeks. But was that enough to base a relationship off – a relationship with a _boy_ and his _friend_?

Then, Logan thought of the James in front of him – not the one who was jovial in public but silent in private, but the one who was as amusing and confident as he always was, as well as sweet and surprisingly vulnerably and incredibly creative and romantic enough to write a story outlining his feelings – and Logan wondered if he could grow to like James. The short amount of time they'd spent actually _talking_ had been amazingly easy and enjoyable, much more so than Logan had thought for them.

He wanted more of it.

"Uh…Logan?"

Right, James probably needed an answer at some point. Logan decided that his lack of answer would be his answer. "Honestly, I've never thought of you like that and I've never had the chance to see you like this alone. It's almost like meeting a whole new person," Logan smiled, though he could see James' puzzlement. "So, new James, while I can't really say no to…creating a bridge with you–"

"You can't say yes either?" James finished with a grin, a _happy_ grin. Logan hadn't expected that. "It's cool, that's good, that's kinda what I was hoping you'd say. Well, yes would've been better, but this'll be fun too."

"'Fun'?" Logan reiterated in question. Was James losing his mind?

"Yep," James nodded enthusiastically. "This way, I get to show you all the perks of being with James Diamond until you're a puddle of James-loving goo and ready to say yes."

Logan scoffed at his confidence, "What makes you so sure that I'll say yes?"

"The prince has to end up happy in the end, or else it's not a good story, and you like good stories," James rolled his eyes as if it was obvious.

Another fit of laughter bubbled out of Logan, one that James joined in on, the tense air that had always been between them dissipating completely, and Logan knew had changed. James had become a real friend to him, first and foremost. When Logan sobered up, he grinned back at James, "Fine, I'll let you court me, _Prince Chames_."

"Does court mean I get to hold your hand?" James held his hand out to Logan hopefully. Logan made a show of pretending to think about the offer until James glowered at him, then took James' hand, twining their fingers together clumsily.

From the warmth in James' hand and the way it squeezed his comfortably, Logan knew that he would have a boyfriend by the time he hit age sixteen.

"Now, about that party…"

Maybe a day or two later.


End file.
